Early last month boo of masak-masak called me up for a year end dinner with a few other food bloggers at Favola. As it turned out, it was a food review session at the new Italian outlet of Le Meridien KL. Thank goodness I had my newly acquired S90 handy with me.

the capable chef Antoine at Favola

The restaurant has a very cheerful mood with its spacious tables, comfortable chairs, and light music further compounded by a very jolly chef Antoine who loves to mingle with diners. Meena, Ciki, and Fatboybakes were among the bloggers who were there.

Like most proper Italian restaurants, we started off with some lovely breads. Other than the standard olive oil with balsamic vinegar, there were guacamole and the very flavorful potato truffle dips. I had to stop myself from eating more of these to save some stomach space, but if you’re on a shoe string budget…

cold (freddo) antipasti, bread with potato truffle dip, and crispy pizza dough

There’s a pretty good selection of antipasti available at Fivola. We had the sampler of five antipasti (RM 35) which had the following:

• octopus – with garlic and chili flakes
• caprese – buffalo mozzarella, tomato, basil, anchovies, garlic confit and oregano
• bresaola – shaved dried beef with rocket salad, figs, lemon and olive oil
• bruschetta – cured salmon, portobello mushrooms
• seafood salad – garlic, chili-olive oil, lemon juice and italian parsley

Of course, the descriptions and names were copied from the menu as there was no way I could remember all of them. I particularly like the beef as well as the octopus, they were tasty and had a nice texture to it too. This was sorta parellel to the old Chinese cold dish, I think.

warm (caldo) antipasti, Conchiglioni Marinara al Cartoccio

Warm antipasti came next, and we had these little curry puff look alike items that were made with pizza dough called panzerotti. They were filled with marinated mushroom, mozzarella and grilled bell pepper and makes perfect beer snacks.

We also had cod fritters, but my favorite has got to be the sardines. Unlike the canned version we’re familiar with, the sardine’s sauteed with onions, raisins, pine nuts, and bell pepper to a crispy texture. They were absolutely delicious.

For pasta, we had the conchiglioni marinara al cartoccio (RM 40), in laymen’s term – shell shaped pasta with seafood, extra virgin olive oil, herbs, and tomato sauce. I’m not a huge fan of conchiglioni, but this tasted pretty good.

lobster risotto, roasted lamb shoulder, wagyu beef lasagna, veal osso bucco

They were quite a few main dishes to share among us. For a taste of luxury, we had the risotto con argosta (lobster risotto, RM 45) and lasagna al forno (wagyu cheek lasagna, RM 40) and both dishes didn’t disappoint the ingredients used. The lasagna was especially the yums, Garfield would have approved.

The two veal dishes – veal escalope (one pan seared, one coated with bread crumbs, RM 60) and veal osso bucco (RM 70). They were decent, but to be frank I’m not a huge fan of veal and would probably opt for something else (the lasagna for example) if I had to choose. I prefer the pan seared veal and could give a pass to the bread crumb preparation method though.

veal osso bucco, scallop with cauliflower, mussels with chicken, veal escalope “due modi”

Another two antipasti dishes we had (in full serving instead of sampler) were roasted scallops (RM 20) and fresh mussels (RM 20). The scallops came on a bed of cauliflower and truffles and were absolutely delightful. The mussels had minced chicken stuffing, garlic and tomato sauce. I am quite sure suan would have loved to have this, they were quire good too.

The roasted lamb shoulder (RM 50) was the other meat dish we had. I remember it to be quite rich but couldn’t really recall much otherwise. I think my stomach was already over stuffed at this point.

panna cotta, fruitti di miso, illy coffee inspired tiramisu

Then of course, there were desserts. Illy coffee inspired tiramisu (RM 20) was nice, and the fruitti di miso (ricotta cream and mixed red berries RM 20) gives a jolt to the senses after the heavy meal. However, the panna cotta (RM 20) had to be the recommended choice – almond custard cream, minestrone of fruit sugar veil and orange wafer might not mean anything to me, but it was very delightful. The contrasting tastes of custard with the berries and sugar was just perfect.

Meena, KY, and ciki; potent Grappa

To finish off the dinner, we ordered some grappa, basically grape based pomace brandy (or distilled wine) with alcohol content as high as 60%. These drinks cost anything from RM 20 (Grappa Limonico) to RM 50 (Alexandar Red Rose Grappa). The red rose grappa was quite good, but I can’t say I’d be able to justify the price for it though.

The Grappa Platinum (RM 40) was especially nasty and left a grimace to anyone who’d tasted it. Perhaps it was an acquired taste, I don’t know, and probably wouldn’t ever order this particular type of drinks anytime soon.

By the time we wrapped up, it was already 11pm. I think I still felt full when I woke up the next morning. It was definitely a nice session and Fivola would make a pretty good place if you’re looking for some authentic Italian food. The ambiance is good, the food did not disappoint, and the price is fair too.

Address:
Favola
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470
GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7753

Tags:  ciki,  desserts,  grappa,  hotel,  italian,  lagsana,  meena,  pasta,  scallops,  tiramisu

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »

The first time I went to d’italiane kitchen at Jaya 33 was actually more than half a year ago when I was still working in my previous company at PJ. I’ve since visited this place quite a few times but somehow haven’t gotten around to post about it.

Well, there is no better time than now.

The last time I visited this classy Italian restaurant at Jaya 33 was on the 11th January, a date that is rather significant for it was the first time Mellissa and I went out (I had used the excuse of needing her help in doing the U Mobile advertorial, and fortunately she was a very willing victim)

Mell studying the menu

d’italiane kitchen is located on the ground floor of Jaya 33, right next to Bruno’s, and a few shops away from the Nagomi Shabu Shabu. The restaurant has a pretty nice alfresco dining area over looking Jalan Semangat as well tastefully decorated indoor seatings.

Angel hair with Scallops, my favorite!

Angel hair with scallops has always been one of my favorite pasta dishes, if you recall, I’ve even cooked it before. I tend to order them whenever the chances arise, and did so on this particular occasion.

The dish come with four pieces of very good size scallops that is slightly cooked, just like the way scallops are meant to be served. The angel hair pasta has the right flavor and proper garnish, not something over the top but fresh and complimentary to the overall taste.

Spicy Crab Meat Linguine

The spicy crab meat linguine was equally tasty. Pine nuts and cherry tomatoes mixed with decent amount of spicy crab meat, a slightly unorthodox taste in pasta but a pretty good one. Mellissa gave it at thumb up.

Other than the two dishes here, I’ve also had their Agli Scampi (prawn pasta that is cooked similar to the angel hair scallop) and one of their chocolate cakes. The food quality held up pretty well over the few visits.

faster snap this picture so that I can have my scallop!

I find prices at this outfit pretty reasonable, pastas are priced from RM 18.90 (bolognaise, alio olio) to RM 25.90 (scallop, salmon), desserts from RM 12.90.

The menu is pretty big, you have some ten starters and half a dozen soups and salad to choose from as well. Give it a try!

Adress:
Jaya 33,
No. 3, Jalan Semangat,
Seksyen 13,
46200 PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.110274, 101.637139
Tel: 03-7986 2330

Tags:  angel hair,  italian food,  jaya 33,  mellissa,  pasta,  scallop,  spaghetti

Posted by KY | 39 Comments »

Thanks to the infamous Robb of Nuffnang, I was invited as the “featured blogger” on a sharing session at Italiannese, Mid Valley Gardens. Previous featured bloggers include fehmes people like Cheesie and Cindy , so I guess this blog must be doing pretty decent huh?

Timothy Tiah, Nicholas Chay, Robb Chew, Pinky Tham, Firdauz

So I arrived at Italiannese, Mid Valley Gardens just in time on the faithful 12th of Oct to find a boat load of people who are already getting friendly with each other, and warming up their camera flashes too.

Yee Hou, Sidney (bigboysoven), Rojaks, Superwilson, Simon Seow

The usual suspects from Nuffnang were there. Robb, who engineered the whole event, the boss Tim, Nicholas, Pinky, Firdauz, Chingy, and Yee Hou too. Other friends like Sidny, Rojaks, Simon Seow, Debra & Victoria Foong also attended the event.

Justin Chin, Bryan Lim, Chee Seng, Chee Hong, Ruionkoh

There are other familiar faces I have met during the Nuffnang’s pajama party and the more recent Haloween party who made their way to the sharing session too. It was in all, over two dozen of us filling up an entire section in the rather nicely decorated restaurant.

Jeffro, Anne Marie, Curryegg, KC, Karena Cheow

We went through a round of rather informal self introduction (and I found out some of them are practically half my age @.@), followed by a short speech from yours truly which mainly touches a little bit about this whole food blogging business and a lot more about the constant question I get about my weight (or the lack of it)

Jou Yin, Josephine, Debra Fong, Victoria Fong, Yi May

Just as we were almost done with the talking session, the servers started to bring in the food, which is just brilliant timing wise.

Carlifornia shrimp salad, mini cheesy pizza, quattro platter

We got started off with the quattro platter that includes deep fried risotto balls, fried calamari rings, stuffed mushrooms, and zucchini fritte. Calamari has always been one of my favorites and the one served up here certainly did not disappoint.

The California shrimp salad was a fresh departure from the usual Caesar or garden salad. However, my favorite has got to be the mini cheesy pizza, very thin, crispy, and flavorful.

Sicilian pizza, bread with olive oil & vineger, lamb shank

The Sicilian pizza is some what an acquired taste, soft texture with a heavy mixture of cheese and tomato flavor in a somewhat unfamiliar territory. I wouldn’t say I like it. The lamb shank though, is pretty flavorful and well cooked to a soft and tender texture, I just wish there were slightly more sauce to go with it.

bowls of pasta, chocholate and hazelnut cake

The main attraction of the day was of course, the pasta bowls. I think Italiannese’s idea is a pretty good one, with the smallish servings of the individual bowls you get to taste more varieties.

The pasts themselves were pretty good. My favorite would be the angel hair aglio olio with shrimp. There were even lasagna too.

Chingy is here, I did not manage to capture an individual pic

We concluded the dinner with some hazlenut cake before everyone went off to our separate ways. It was a pretty good session and it was nice meeting you guys!

Tags:  italiannese,  nicholas,  nuffnang,  pasta,  pinky,  robb,  rojaks,  timothy,  yee hou

Posted by KY | 22 Comments »

Having to make a decision for dinner last weekend before a movie, I was trying to be smart and told Lorna (my petrol heroine) that I am bringing her to a pretty interesting place without first giving her the restaurant’s name. We then walked past Sushi Zanmai, and she told me “my sister and I went to another Zanmai place last week, the one downstairs”

“Pasta Zanmai?” I asked. She said yah. That was exactly the place I thought I’d surprise her with, so you can imagine what an ass it made me feel. Well the important thing is that we still ended up there and I was able to finally give Pasta Zanmai a try.

pretty nice interior with an integrated shop

Pasta Zanmai is actually from the same group that runs RakuZen at Subang Jaya, Chulan Square, as well as the Sushi Zanmai branches. I have always had positive impressions at their establishments, so my expectation was rather high stepping into this place.

It was a rather busy Saturday dinner time, we decided to sit at the bar right in front of the glass shielded kitchen rather than wait for a table. The interior decoration was pretty nice, with ample lighting, comfortable chairs, and a busy pace.

crab meat avocado spaghetti, Japanese curry rice

The menu came accompanied with pictures of most dishes, which makes ordering that much easier. I couldn’t resist the combination of kani (crab) and avocado with pasta, and Lorna ordered the Japanese curry chicken rice. We also asked for ikura (salmon roe) and teriyaki hotate (scallop) as appetizers. A big pitcher of ice fruit tea was shared.

Despite the crowd, food didn’t take long to arrive, and they were good! Ikura was a bit smallish in serving size, but I guess there isn’t much to complain as the quality was good and the price reasonable. My spaghetti was really delicious, good portion of avocado and kani (real crab and not crab sticks) with the slightly salty pasta sauce that wasn’t over powering. The ebiko (flying fish roe) sprinkled on the pasta gave it an added sophistication as well. I really liked it.

ikura, hotate, and the giant ice fruit tea

The curry chicken rice was true to the taste as well, slightly sweet and not exactly spicy. I like the fact that they use real Japanese rice in this dish. As for the teriyaki hotate (scallop), they were so sweet and succulent I was so glad we ordered them.

Total bill came to Rm 100.05 including tax and service charge. Highest priced item was my RM 25 pasta while the other dishes and drinks ranges from RM 12 to RM 22. Give it a try!

Address:
Pasta Zanmai
G210B, Ground Floor Promenade
1 Utama Shopping Centre
Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.150050, 101.615939
Tel: 03-7728 1210

Others:
Masak-masak
Brought up 2 share
blueepinkk

Tags:  1-utama,  dining,  Japanese-Food,  pasta,  spaghetti

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

I was invited by photographer Stephen Wong to meet with Chef Marco from Switzerland at the Seri Pacific Hotel for a pasta tasting session last Tuesday. It was a chance not to be missed, despite the treacherous weather, we forged ahead with the plan.

chef Marco preparing four pasta sauce at the same time

When everyone finally arrived, we were introduced to chef Marco and his assistant Urs (pronounced uuhhrs). They were very friendly people. The good chef then went to do what he’s good at, making pasta.

Chef Marco was working with four pans at the concurrently, each with a different sauce. Two creamy sauce and two tomato based sauce. Considering the fact that this guy set the Malaysian Book of Record by preparing 402 sauce in 7 hours running 12 pans at the same time, this was no sweat whatsoever. Personally, I can only cook soup & fry another dish of vege while having the rice cooker running at the same time. =/

the four flavors

I was asking chef Marco about the name of his dishes, but he told me basically he doesn’t really name the dishes as he has over 700 recipes and it’ll be pointless to name them all.

Then of course, it’s eating time.

The four dishes were all very good. Two creamy seafood pastas each with its distinct taste, one with an Indian hint with the use of tumeric while another with sweetness to bring out the taste of the fresh shrimps. The two tomato based sauce, one vegetarian and the other with chicken tasted awesome as well. The fresh and sun dried tomato, the baby bok choy and the chicken was a surprising mix, but proved to be a good one. A slight oriental hint to the traditionally Italian dish.

the camwhores, and the cook book

After the excellent dinner, we were given a copy of the cook book “Pasta in Play”, authored by Chef Marco with photographs from Stephen Wong. The book is made in Malaysia and will be available at bookstores very soon (more on this once I get the details). Chef Marco is also planning to open a restaurant in KL sometime next year. He promised that he’ll stick to the true traditional ingredients (i.e: cooking with white wine in some dishes) in the new restaurant, I can’t wait.

Kelly Kel Li and Natalie, who took so many pictures of themselves it gave the chef and his assistant (and me!) a cultural shock has already written their piece on the experience too.

Update:
FA and foodlover’s takes

Tags:  dining,  food,  italian,  KL,  ky,  pasta,  swiss

Posted by KY | 13 Comments »